One sided Communication?

                                   We love getting together with these boys in person and on facetime!

Last Sunday the weekly facetime "Sunday School" session that Al and I have with grandsons Nate and Elliot didn’t exactly go as planned. When Al and I made contact with the boys on the computer, we quickly discovered that the sound wasn’t working on our end.

Since the boys could hear us clearly, we explained the problem. They signaled to turn up the volume; however, it was turned up as loud as possible.  Finally, one of the boys realized that we could talk to each other using our cell phones and look at each other on the iPad. Creative thinking! That solved the problem temporarily and we were able to communicate just fine.  

Nate contacted us a few minutes after we had hung up saying that I should try shutting down the iPad and then restart it. When he and I tried using the facetime program again, the problem had been solved. Nate’s voice came through just fine. The boys were very patient with us!

We’ve probably all experienced the frustration of one-sided communication, such as greeting someone and getting no response, only to see that they were wearing earbuds and were totally engrossed in their music, or trying to contact a representative from an organization only to be put on hold for a very long time...

As another example, our friend and neighbor was having trouble receiving texts on her cell phone from me.  Neither one of us could figure out why I was getting her texts, but neighbor Sue wasn’t getting mine.

 Finally, Sue came over to the house, and we sat down together in the back yard holding our cell phones. I texted her. It didn’t go through. She texted me. I received it. We spent several minutes going back and forth between the two phones. What was wrong?

 An ‘aha’ moment came later, when she checked her contact list. It turned out that Sue had inadvertently blocked our cell number! As soon as she “unblocked” it, we were able to text back and forth.

             To have a close relationship with another person, we must be able to have a two- way communication, an exchange of ideas, information, opinions and feelings. In the scripture passage above, the apostle James, brother of Jesus, was writing to Jewish believers who had been dispersed from Jerusalem after Jesus’ death and resurrection.

            In his letter, James instructed them to live out their faith, encouraging them to seek God and pray for one another, as well as for themselves. In trouble?  Happy? Sick? Need to confess sin. Deliverance? Call on God! Call on the elders of the church! Call on each other and pray.

            James points to the prophet Elijah, “a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again, he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.” (James 5:17-18) This is an eye-opener…a man whom God used to turn around the nation of Israel at a time when worship of Canaanite gods and goddesses prevailed was a person just like you and me? Really?

            Maybe the difference lies in the relationship that Elijah had developed with the Lord. He asked, he waited, he listened, then obeyed what he heard through the Holy Spirit and God answered in powerful ways. Isn’t that the kind of relationship we yearn to have, a close personal relationship with the God of the Universe?

            If prayer is a conversation with God, then we have to listen with our hearts as well as our ears. We have to make room for Him every day. That means finding time in our lives and schedules, opening our hearts to Him and listening as well as speaking. He will respond!

“Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer officered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” *

*James 5:13-16 NIV